Apparatus for feeding multiple dose jet injectors



D. C. MORLEY Sept. 26, 1967 APPARATUS FOR FEEDING MULTIPLE DOSE JET INJECTORS Fild Aug. 5, 1963 INVENTOR ATTORNEY 7 v United States Patent 3,343,538 APPARATUS FOR FEEDING MULTIPLE DOSE JET INJECTORS David C. Morley, St. Albans, England, assignor to Allen and Hanhurys Limited, London, England, a British company Filed Aug. 5, 1963, Ser. No. 299,895 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Aug. 3, 1962, 29,956/62 1 Claim. (Cl. 128-215) This invention relates to an apparatus for feeding multiple dose jet injectors from liquid contained in a series of containers.

Hypodermic injections are customarily given by the use of a hypodermic syringe which is charged with the medicament by piercing a rubber cap of a vial and withdrawing a part of the contents. The use of this method is time consuming since the syringe has to be recharged prior to each injection. A more recent method of giving injections is by the use of needleless or jet injectors which are based upon the principle of forcing the medicament through a small orifice at high pressure and velocity adequate to penetrate the skin. Some of these injectors are single dose syringes, the medicament being contained in the barrel of the instrument or in an arnpoule. This type of jet injector suffers from the same disadvantage as the standard hypodermic syringe, i.e. it has to be recharged prior to each use. An alternative jet injector is the multiple dose type, with which the present invention is concerned. The multiple dose jet injector is useful for mass vaccinations since no time is wasted in charging and sterilising it between injections. Hitherto the multiple dose jet injector has been fed from a storage vessel containing a relatively large volume of medicament, for example 1 litre. However, medicaments are not normally packed in such vessels and it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for feeding a multiple does jet injector from a series of standard small containers, e.g. vaccine bottles, without introducing .air into the injector.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an apparatus for feeding a multidose jet injector with liquid which comprises first and second stoppered containers, a liquid feed tube leading from a position inside the first container near the stopper thereof to the injector, a communication tube extending through both containers and their stoppers, the opposite ends of the said communication tube terminating near the respective bases of the containers, an air inlet tube leading into the second container and terminating at a position near the stopper thereof, and a bacterial filter in the air inlet-tube. In use, each of the containers is partially filled with injection liquid and the first container is inverted and positioned at a higher level than the second container which is upright. The liquid feed tube from the first container to the injector then terminates in the first container below the level of the liquid therein. The communication tube between the two containers terminates in the first container above the level of the liquid and terminates in the second container below the level of the liquid near the base of the container. The air inlet tube to the second container, terminates in the second container above the level of the liquid.

The two stoppered containers are preferably vaccine vials which are mounted vertically above each other in a common holder. The feed tube, the communication tube Patented Sept. 26, 1967 and the air inlet tube are preferably needle shaped tubes, separate or concentric, the ends of which are sharpened so that they can readily be pushed through the stoppers of the containers.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing which shows a sectional view of the apparatus. A first, inverted vaccine vial 1 containing the medicament to be injected is mounted on a holder 2 vertically above a second upright lower vaccine vial 3 containing the same medicament. A needle or feed tube 4 having a sharpened end passes through a rubber cap 5 of the upper or inverted vial 1 and connects a multiple dose jet injector indicated by the arow I, with the medicament in the inverted vial. A second needle or air inlet tube 6, also having a sharpened end, passes through a rubber cap 7 of the lower vial and connects the atmosphere to the air space in the lower vial. A filter 8, which is impervious to bacteria is mounted on the distal end of the second needle 6. A third or communication needle or tube 9 having sharpened ends passes through the rubber caps 5 and 7 of both vials 1 and 3 and is of such a length that its upper end terminates near the base of the upper inverted vial 1 (which base will of course be at the top of the apparatus) and its lower end terminates near the base of the lower, upright vial 3.

Prior to using the apparatus, the assembly of needles is sterilized. The first needle 4 is then attached to the jet injector I, and the first vaccine vial 1 is inverted and is placed in position, the injector I being primed from the liquid in this vial. This leaves a small air space above the liquid. The second vial 3 is then placed in position below the inverted vial. Whenever the injector I is used, liquid is removed from the upper vial 1 and therefore liquid from the second lower vial 3 flows up the com munication needle '9 into first vial 1 to replace the withdrawn liquid. When the upright vial 3 is emptied it may be replaced by a new vaccine vial and any air trapped in the communication needle 9 is displaced into the air space above the liquid in the upper inverted vial 1. The air space is therefore very slightly increased in volume, but it is possible to change the lower vial 3 numerous times before the inverted vial 1 requires replacement and the apparatus needs to be reprimed.

What I claim is:

An apparatus for feeding a multid-ose injector with liquid and preventing air from being introduced int-o the injector between injections which comprises a first stoppered container, a second stoppered container, said second container being substantially upright and said first container being substantially inverted, a holder disposed between the stoppers of said containers in contiguous relationship thereto, a liquid feed tube extending from a position inside said first container near the stopper thereof through said stopper and holder outwardly of said holder, said tube being adapted to be connected to said multidose injector, a communication tube extending from a position near the base of said first container to a position near the base of said second container through said stoppers and holder, an air inlet tube extending from within said second container just below the stopper thereof outward through said stopper and holder and a filter substantially impervious to bacteria connected to the outward end of said air inlet tube, whereby any air within the communication tube is displaced into the air space above the liquid in the inverted container and is not introduced into the 2,584,397 2/1952 Pitman 128215 X multidose injector. 2,589,728 3/1952 Pratt 128225 References Cited RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 DALTON TRULUCK, ROBERT E. MORGAN,

2,202,163 5/1940 Mulford et a1. 128214 Examiners- 

